It has long been an objective of many individuals within different industries to develop devices and methods for improving the combustion efficiency of hydrocarbon fuel burning systems. A major breakthrough in improving fuel efficiency was the development of a fuel catalyst described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,580,359 that could be used to treat fuel prior to combustion. While the fuel catalyst has proven to be effective, the underlying mechanism of operation has not been previously understood. It is therefore an object of the present invention to determine the underlying mechanism of operation of the fuel catalyst so that additional catalysts can be analytically developed.